Palfish - How to open your schedule...

If you want a better chance of getting bookings on Palfish you need to open your schedule!


In this post we'll look at what that means and how to do it!


The minimum requirement for teaching on Palfish is to have 7 slots open during peak times in a week.

Obviously the more you can open the better your chance of catching bookings.

Most people will say 'open your slots' as a catch phrase to get more bookings.

I say open what you can - but be careful, think about your goals and don't go crazy.

It IS possible to be part time on Palfish and successful.

I did it!

Initially the pressure to open slots is immense - I found myself pushing myself to open more - I opened later than i'd like and earlier than I'd normally like on some nights.

Then things took off!

Now I have to be REALLY sure I want to work those times because I don't want to put myself in a position to have to cancel a 'fixed' slot (more on fixed slots later).

So let's get back to basics first...

How to open a slot:

First click on the Schedule Icon on your homepage, you will then see a calendar that looks like this:

My timezone is set to Australia/Sydney so all my slots will show in that timezone (stay tuned for what happens when daylight savings hits).

This is Thursday 22nd - I work for another company from 8pm which I have to be 5min early for, I have children I need to get to bed before I teach incase hubby isn't home from work, so realistically the ONLY slot I can teach on a Thursday is my 7pm slot.

To open it I click on it and this will pop up:

You can unselect these options, or select one or both of them.

Apply to every week means that you will open your slot to 'Weekly' It will turn green to say it is open, and it will open that time slot on the same day EVERY week.

Open to every day means you want that slot open every day. (I never select that box).

If you unselect both those options and click ok it will just open that half an hour slot for that day.

Now let's look at the different type of slots you have, when you first start you will have something that looks like this:

The white time slots are closed - they can't be booked unless I accept a pop-up.

The green ones are 'open' this means they can be booked up to three hours before they start. I play basketball on Tuesdays so every week, depending on game time, my open slots are different.

My 7, 7:30 and 11pm slots are open to weekly. (They have a little 'weekly' sign in the top left) This means that parents know i'm available at this time on a Tuesday every week. They like this! Weekly means stability. So once you figure out when you can DEFINITELY teach - open to weekly if you can.

I have my slots set so that when I open them I can only be booked for OKC (I don't want to do freetalk). This is indicated by the little blue palfish symbol in the bottom left corner of the slot.

You can see that my 10pm slot isn't booked. (It was, they cancelled). Notice the red 'double' in the top right of the 10pm slot? This is 8pm BJT, if you teach this time slot you get double points! (10 points instead of 5 for the class).

All my other open slots are booked. (This is indicated by the little orange calendar symbol in the bottom right).

When things started filling up for the night I closed my 8pm slot. I need to have a break between classes! I can teach about 6 in a row MAXIMUM - some can only do 4 in a row without a break - everyone is different, don't push yourself too hard. You can see it's closed because it is white - it still has a blue Palfish symbol in the corner to remind me that at one point I had it open for OKC.

To close an unbooked green slot I click on it and this comes up :

Open to ALL students means I can change it so it's open for freetalk bookings.

I can just close it for the selected day,

I can close that slot for every day (Only do this if they aren't booked),

Or if it's a weekly slot I can close it down completely - that's what 'close every Tuesday is for.' 

It's that easy! 

You will be able to see your schedule THREE weeks in advance - Parents/students will only be able to see TWO weeks in advance. This means if you know you are going away or out for the night - you can close your slots before the parents see them to book them!

SO easy to take time off!

It gets a little more complicated if you have 'fixed' slots. Don't get me wrong fixed slots are GREAT! In fact fixed slots are what you want!!

A fixed slot means you have a regular that wants priority to book that time every week! When a slot is fixed it will look like this:

My 9pm, 10pm and 10:30pm slots are fixed (they have a little orange fixed sign in the bottom right). This means that the student that has fixed them has priority to book them. It is very rare for a student to not book a slot they have fixed - so it's pretty much guaranteed bookings! 

If you have fixed slots you can still close them but you'll need to let your regular student know why and your admin. 

You will only get a fixed slot if it is open to Weekly. This is where stability is key! 

So to recap:

Green means open! (These can be booked)

A little orange calendar symbol in the bottom right means it's been booked!

'Fixed' means you have a regular, congrats!

Happy Teaching x

 P.S. Every company offers a referral bonus - If you're interested in getting started and would like my help with the process drop me a line! 

Palfish referral code: 58910752 
SayABC referral code: EG63VF